Stargate 117
by BIG Z1776
Summary: When the UNSC finds a Stargate and decides to use it things happen in a way never before seen. The most powerful Human entity in the galaxy has arisen to take the galaxy back from evil and oppression. But the road ahead is long and tough, and Earth will look to its mightiest champions to take the fight to their enemies. No Covenant or Forerunners. Normal SG-1 bad guys and setting.
1. Chapter 1

**The basis of this story is a relatively simple one. What if you take the UNSC and place into the shoes of Earth and its Stargate Command, ships, colonies, armies, and Spartans included. The bad guys would be the usual suspects: Gou'ald, Replicators, Ori, Wraith, etc. This'll take place around the time the Spartan II's received their armor, so they exist, and due to the fact I will NOT have the Covenant in this story means that the Spartan III's won't even exist in the way we think of them. But I might still work them in, depending on how I see fit to draw out this story, I really like Noble Team and Noble Six in particular. So you might see them work their way into prominence.**

**The date of the beginning of this story is 2527, three years after the Spartan II's get their armor so they've become quite experienced with it and I can pull them in at any time. Oh by the way, if it helps to envision the human troops in Halo 4 armor (Like in the opening cinematic) go ahead because it's how I envision them. As for ODST's…envision them like in Halo 3 ODST. But I would suggest you have a separate window set to the Halo Wiki site to reference anything that you may not recognize.**

**Lastly, disclaimer, I do not own Halo or Stargate, if I owned them there would have been a Halo movie and Stargate would still be going strong.**

Chapter 1

Location: Centra Gamma System, Planet Meridian

Date: February 21, 2527

Time: 1345 Hours

The suffocating heat was horrendous for the platoon of UNSC Army troops as they trudged along through the dense bug infested jungle. Their armor and uniforms were caked with mud after only ten minutes of slogging through the dense system of bushes, bog, and roots. Their purpose for being out so far from their comfortable home base at the city of Alicorn was beyond them as ONI had not given them specifics. All their CO had been told was that an Insurrectionist cell was operating deep in the jungle and had some equipment that ONI would rather leave unknown to the general public. So the Army troops had been smart and not argued, ONI is not the group to question.

They'd taken an Elephant through as far as they were able to go until the ground became too unstable for the massive vehicle to continue onwards. So they had to hump it to the target area, an abandoned settlement now overgrown from the instability of the ground around it. That area was prone to sinkholes and several exploration parties had seen their large heavy tracked vehicles go down with supplies, equipment and in some unfortunate cases, people.

"Lieutenant, how come we're doing this?" one of the PFC's in the outfit asked as they trudged through the underbrush.

"Because ONI asked us Private, what more do you need to hear?" Lieutenant Harrison responded, looking at the data pad in his left hand.

"Well it's not that sir," the same trooper responded, ducking under a large fallen tree as he continued forward.

"Well please Private Stone, share with the rest of the class," the First Sergeant at the head of the column growled.

"Why isn't ONI sending someone with the specialized training and clearance to accomplish this mission, like a Spec Ops team? Or ODST's? We're simple ground pounders, I think they sent us because we're expendable."

"No one here is expendable to the UNSC Private, just you," the First Sergeant responded again climbing up a small knoll as the other thirty-five troops present got a good laugh out of that little jab, "Hold it!"

The NCO's fist went straight up, clenched tightly letting everyone know to stop and take cover. The unit did this without hesitation and hit the dirt and ducked down behind the roots and fallen trunks of trees. The Lieutenant crept up with Assault Rifle in hand and laid down right next to the Sergeant at the lead.

"What do you got Sergeant?"

"Looks like we're out of cover, just high grasses and low saplings until the settlement," the man replied as the Lieutenant pulled out a small scope that fed into the camera on his armor.

"I don't see anything…wait. There, the church tower, looks like they've got an MG overlooking the entire town. No vehicles that I can see, but there are a few Innies walking around. Not very heavily armed from what I can see," the Lieutenant said as he surveyed the overgrown and mostly derelict settlement of metal and brick.

"What's our first move sir?" one of the Corporals near the two of them asked, cradling his M392 DMR, the standard weapon for Army Corporals.

The Lieutenant carefully surveyed the entire route into town, it was basic to say the least, two roads going perpendicular to one another meeting in the center of town. The entire area around the town was cleared with terraces for farming the fertile soil that was now being reclaimed by the forest with tall grasses, ferns, and saplings growing in abundance. This would provide some concealment to the platoon as they moved forward to try and take care of these Innies. Lieutenant Harrison had thirty-six highly trained and well equipped men and women under his command in comparison to what appeared to be maybe a dozen to twenty lightly armed and relaxed Insurrectionists. If there was anything that the Lieutenant's ten years and two tours of service on this planet had taught him was that the Innies were not disciplined, their watchmen were never as alert as they should be, their weapons were poorly maintained, they had little to no equipment, and were horrible shots with anything but hunting rifles. Meanwhile, he knew his MA37 Assault Rifle and M-392 DMR armed troops could hit them at a much greater range than the Innies could. So he would have to use that set of advantages to compensate for the lack of cover and the superior defensive position the Innies had then he could get through this with his entire unit alive and hopefully unscathed.

"Time to report in," Harrison grumbled, putting away the scope, "Nest this is Snake Two-Five come in please."

"Two-Five, authenticate," the radio crackled, _damned paranoid spooks_.

"Authentication Code: Alpha Delta five three one," Lieutenant Harrison responded on instinct.

"Confirmed Two-Five, report over."

"We have arrived at target area, confirmed hostile presence. Awaiting orders and requesting support."

"Negative on support Two-Five, Command has High Priority Object in area. Use of air and artillery support is forbidden," the radio responded, "Your orders are to take and secure the area and await aerial extract and to take no prisoners."

"Copy that Nest," Harrison grumbled, quite deflated at not having the benefit of support but glad that they wouldn't have to deal with prisoners, not that they would have taken any.

"Good hunting Two-Five, Nest out."

"Alright, squad leaders," the Lieutenant whispered into their comms, waving them over after sliding back out of sight.

The three squad leaders all crept on over carefully and ducked down next to the Lieutenant.

"What's the plan eltee?" first squad's leader asked.

"Alright, first squad will be going across the middle with second squad on the right swinging out to envelop the Innies' right flank. Third squad will have the left, once the Innies open fire, they will provide cover fire. I want Jackhammers on that tower first thing, anyone with a SAW I want on this knoll providing suppressing fire. Have O'Brian and his long rifle right here on counter-fire against any snipers or MG's. Once we're in the town fireteams will leap frog from building to building clearing all hostiles in their path. We're on our own here, no artillery, or air cover so it's just us and them. But on the bright side, we take no prisoners. Understood?" the Lieutenant asked, making sure his squad leaders had the idea, "Alright, let's move."

The three squad leaders moved back to their respective squads giving out orders and the unit began to take up positions around the treeline as the three Squad Automatic Weapons carriers began setting up their rapid firing weaponry. The lone sniper rifle wielding member of the platoon set up shop underneath a fallen log that provided a premade pillbox looking piece of cover and set down several magazines next to his rifle. The winks on the Lieutenant's HUD flashed up and informed him that his unit was in position and ready to go. So Harrison flipped his MA37 and Magnum's safety to off and waved his arm forward to signal for a slow stealthy advance.

He and the rest of the Army troops advanced carefully through the high grasses in a low crouch. The grasses and saplings were all the way up to their shoulders when fully upright and made it easy to advance without being spotted. They had roughly fifty yards to cover from where they started. Thankfully the spot they were crossing wasn't the longest stretch of open ground near the town and didn't really seem to be all that well watched. The troopers had no issue keeping quiet and stealthy as they spread out in their squad and fire team units. Their lone sniper trained his sights on the head of an Innie in the church tower behind a large M247 Machine Gun, a lighter variant of the M247H. The Innies were still completely unaware of the presence of the approaching troopers as the Army troops got to within fifteen yards of the first row buildings overgrown with vines and grasses. The Lieutenant couldn't hand signal his men through the thick grasses, so he keyed his comm and whispered into it.

"Jackhammers, target the tower, on my mark. SAW's, will provide suppressing fire and move up once the first buildings are clear," Harrison calmly whispered, getting blue winks on his HUD acknowledging his orders. He peeked up through the grasses carefully to check to see how close he was to the nearest cover and the nearest Innie, he then ducked down and gripped his rifle and took one last deep breath, "Jackhammers now!"

On that cue a single trooper rose up slightly and shouldered his large double barreled rocket launcher. He took aim immediately at the tallest point in the town and pulled the trigger. The M41 SSR MAV/AW was the perfect weapon for the job at hand. Its 102 mm shaped charge warhead could level most standing structures its user needed to hit as well as penetrate tank armor and was known to bring down Pelicans on occasion. But for that thin metal spire it almost seemed like overkill. The dull report of the firing of the weapon was heard far and wide by everyone awake enough to hear it. The exhaust trail of the large rocket sped out towards the doomed tower and struck it right below the open window the Insurrectionists had set up their pillbox. The powerful explosion sent fire, bits of metal, wood, and pieces of the unfortunate Innie manning the post in all directions. Then the ripping roar of the three SAW's in the treeline came to life and sent tracers lancing into the town over the heads of the Army troopers as they ran forward in a crouch right into the town. Several Insurrectionists fell in the first seconds of the sudden attack and the others were too stunned to actively resist the well-coordinated assault. The first squad taking the middle of the target area split into two groups with two of the four man fire teams sweeping forward while the third made forced entry into the first building with flash bangs preempting their entry into the building itself. The second squad skirted around the edge of the town rapidly and came in from the right side of the main assault down the primary road into the settlement. Their rifles coughed out at a few Innies who came out of a single building in the middle of town and killed all but one in moments. The third squad went to the left on the initiative of their Sergeant seeing that the Innies were completely on their heels and would most likely make a break for the woods and caught three of them stumbling out of an old restaurant.

Building by building the Army troops charged through the town meeting sparse resistance. Their lone sniper picked off several Insurrectionists firing from windows farther into the town. The SAW gunners had hardly emptied their first magazines before they'd received orders to move up and join their squads as the battle started to heat up. The Insurrectionists seemed to be far more numerous than first anticipated and began to get organized as the Army troops successfully took more than half the town and closed in on the old town hall. The Insurrectionists fired from second and third story windows at the hostile UNSC troops who laid out heavy suppressing fire and stormed into the buildings occupied by the Innie fighters. Fierce room to room fighting erupted in the schoolhouse next to the church as two of second squad's fire teams stormed into the building. The Innies threw several grenades that wounded two of the leading troopers quite badly and forced the others to respond with equal force. Their squad leader tossed a grenade through a hole in a wall where the grenades had come from, hearing the panicked screams of the Innies and then the bang from the frag he'd tossed silenced them. Then he took a shot to calf from a single hostile jumping out from around the corner. One of his men let rip in response with his MA37 and struck the Innie several times in the chest and killed him instantly. The rest of the squad passed him by as they finished mopping up the rest of the Innies in the building and moved on.

With the successful clearing of the school that left only two buildings occupied by the Innies, the town hall and a warehouse next to it. Third squad took on the task of taking the warehouse while second and third took on the town hall. A pair of Jackhammers smashed the entire front façade of the building and made sizeable entry for the whole of first squad to enter the building and wipe out the eight Innies left alive. The Lieutenant himself led the charge into the building, and caught one of them getting up off of the ground and fired a burst into his side as the rest of his troopers secured the building. Several crates of supplied and some equipment were stacked against the walls and a few cots were laid out on the ground against the walls. The Army troops began to sift through the area, looking for any booby-traps or potential sources of intelligence as the sporadic gunfire from third squad's assault on the warehouse finished up the final three Insurrectionists.

The calls for medics rang out occasionally from troopers who'd been hurt, but thankfully, the Lieutenant didn't see any KIA on his HUD. The target area was secure, and the fight was over. Now all they needed to do was find the HPO that they'd been tasked to secure. He'd been told it was large, and hard to miss, so he knew that it was most likely stored in the warehouse which was now fully secure.

"Lieutenant," the leader of third squad called out on the radio, "We've found something that you may want to see sir."

"Copy that," Harrison responded, turning to walk out of the building with his platoon sergeant right next to him.

It didn't take long to reach the warehouse. The large doors were open and a pair of troopers stood guard outside and Harrison could plainly see the burn marks from flashbangs and the littered shell casings on the concrete floor. Several troopers had dragged the bodies of the few Innies who'd been killed here against the wall as the rest of the squad was standing looking up in awe at a large opened crate on the floor. It was massive, being mostly flat with the large circular object packed within being on its side. The large stone ring was intricately decorated with nine large red crystals arranged evenly on the stone ring with numerous strange symbols on the inner part of it. It looked like nothing the troopers or their officer had ever seen before.

"Nest, this is Snake Two-Five, authentication Alpha Delta three five one, come in over."

"Confirmed Two-Five," the radio crackled, "report."

"Have secured target area and neutralized hostiles. HPO is secure, repeat HPO is secure."

"Acknowledged Two-Five, backup and ONI science teams are en route. ETA is fifteen minutes," the radio said back.

"Nest be advised HPO is quite large, recommend heavy lift gear," Harrison replied.

"Acknowledged Two-Five, ONI was advised to the situation and has planned accordingly. Secure the area and wait for back-up."

"Copy that Nest, we'll be waiting."

The Lieutenant looked back at the large ring and furrowed his brow in deep thought as to what it could have been and why ONI wanted it. To him it looked like just a piece of stone with some big jewels on it. But then again, ONI claimed to have known about it, so it must not have been any ordinary piece of stone. So he turned and left the building as the rest of third squad began going through the other crates stacked around the large open warehouse.

The Lieutenant sat down on an old bench outside the warehouse and tugged off his helmet and laid it down and let the cool wind brush through his hair and let himself relax. He laid his rifle in his lap after turning the safety back on and watched his troops carefully going about clean-up. He looked up to the sky as several formations of Longsword Fighter Interceptors roared overhead, establishing a firm fighter umbrella. As he sat there the massive and unmistakable profile of a UNSC _Paris_ class Heavy Frigate drew the attention of the entire UNSC platoon. The rumbling of its large engines droned out as it descended into the atmosphere and grew closer to their position. Several dots that were unmistakably Pelican dropships came into view and angled towards their position and circled overhead, looking for a good spot to touch down.

"Lieutenant? What in the world is this about?" his platoon sergeant asked as the impressive and rather over kill show of power went on overhead.

"I have no idea, whatever it is though, it's big."

Location: Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Reach, Menachite Mountain ONI CASTLE Base

Date: March 3, 2527

Time: 0300 Hours

The sound of heavy vehicles rolling through the tall mountain road to ONI's top secret CASTLE Base echoed out in the dark of the night. Three massive Elephants drove in a column with a pair of Scorpions and eight Warthogs in front of and behind the large vehicles. The front and rear Elephants were crammed with boxes and crates of highly sensitive material with their armored cover up and deployed with a full squad of ONI security troops manning the large vehicle. The middle Elephant had its roof off however, with its tall thin cargo chained firmly in place as it rolled along with another fully outfitted squad on guard manning several heavy machine guns. The two Scorpions and eight Warthogs were manned by UNSC Marines, who were only told that some classified cargo needed to be escorted through the tall mountain roads to CASTLE Base. Overhead was a flight of eight Hornets and a flight of eight Falcons carrying even more Marines. The convoy had set out three hours ago and met up with a few prepositioned tankers to refuel the lumbering behemoths quickly and efficiently.

The convoy finally rounded the corner and caught site of their final destination, a massive twelve foot thick titanium door with a half dozen automated defense turrets and missile pods scanning the skies. There was a large force of ONI security troops in place at the entrance, awaiting the precious column's arrival. The convoy came to a halt at the gates where an outpost sat in place and a deployable barrier built into the road was deployed. The ONI Major at the checkpoint walked out to greet the arriving column and caught site of the Colonel that was in command of the column. He was dressed in a common black utility uniform with his insignia in gold on hardened shoulder boards on his upper arms. On his thigh he had a Magnum and several spare magazines. The Major saluted him instantly as he walked up to him.

"Colonel sir," the highly disciplined officer said immediately returning to ease once his salute was returned, "I'm going to need a palm print and voice ID to authenticate your arrival sir."

"Very well Major," the Colonel said, following the Major into the steel checkpoint building.

"Follow me please sir."

The two men walked into the large building and went up to a palm scanner where an A.I.'s voice called out, "Identification required, please place your hand on the scanner as shown."

The Colonel placed his hand on the scanner as prompted, and with a quick scan and a small prick on his pointer finger from a blood sample to verify his own DNA the screen blinked green.

"DNA and Hand Print scan complete. Vocal authentication required, please speak your name rank and service number as prompted," the cool male voice of the A.I. ordered.

"Thompson Robert, Colonel, Service Number 452-23-2549."

"Vocal Identification authenticated. Welcome to CASTLE Base Colonel Thompson, new waypoints have been uploaded to your column. Please proceed to waypoint Alpha and await further orders," the A.I. responded after three seconds.

The Colonel nodded and followed the Major out of the building and proceeded back to his own Elephant where he'd been riding in the command center on the bottom level. The barriers lowered at the ordering of the Major and the column rolled forward past the company of ONI security troops who stood with eyes vigilant for any sign of trouble. The Marines in escort looked around at the show of force they had arrived in and allowed their thoughts to wander to the reasons for such security. The flights of Hornets and Falcons peeled away at the orders of the flight control director for CASTLE Base and made a beeline for their home bases near Azod.

The column proceeded into a large spiraling road that took them down deeper under the imposing granite fortress of Menachite Mountain for several hundred feet until they came to a garage with several large loading cranes on the ceiling and a large flatbed in front of a very large elevator that was situated in the back of the garage filled with security. The Warthogs and Scorpions were waved to a smaller branch garage and the Elephants were directed to position themselves directly underneath the large cranes. The most important one of these vehicles, the center vehicle holding the tall thin armored crate was ushered forward and the yellow warning lights signaling the activation of the overhead cranes went off and a shrill alarm sounded out as the crane carefully maneuvered to grasp the unchained crate. It strained to lift the heavy object and the Elephant was ushered to back up and the rolling flatbed was moved in to replace it. The crate lowered down onto it, and more chains were fastened onto the object to secure it before the flatbed was moved forward into the gaping elevator. The armored doors shut tight as the flatbed settled in place.

With a gentle jolt the massive elevator started descending into the very depths of the heart of the base where a massive complex of titanium and reinforced concrete barracks, labs, passageways, barracks, and armories awaited its crown jewel. The massive project was veiled in a layer of secrecy greater than the Spartan Program. Hardly anyone even knew of its existence, not even Dr. Halsey who was perhaps the brightest mind in the UNSC had even the slightest inkling as to its presence within spitting distance of her Spartans' Training Facility.

Its name was soon to be known as the Stargate Program.

**And there's the first chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it thus far. Please leave reviews so that I can have an idea what you all think of it so far.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The UNSC takes its first fateful steps into a large and dangerous galaxy through the wormhole.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Location: Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Reach, Menachite Mountain ONI CASTLE Base

Date: March 22, 2527

Time: 0930 Hours

The sounds of a normal day went on as usual for the so far quiet underground installation beneath CASTLE Base. The Stargate had thus far, been the subject of intense study and scrutiny for the large collection of physicists, astronomers, military officers, and the large security detail that always seemed to be in close proximity to the large stone ring. Much of the efforts of the group was in creating a series of complex algorithms and programs with a quantum level hard drive run by a single ONI smart A.I. which had been the source of a great deal of frustration for the large research team. But there were a few of them that had a theory on why their numerous attempts to dial the ring had failed.

To dial the Stargate four powerful rollers were fixed to the rotating ring and were calibrated to rotate the heavy stone until a desired symbol had been reached. So with the added power generation of a large block of fusion reactors buried several stories below the large red stones would glow and lock into place. This would go on, with a single set of symbols locked in and then with everyone observing and another A.I. recording the event the Stargate would fix itself on its last symbol, but would not lock, and power down. Then the ONI personnel would go back to the drawing board and try to understand everything that went on. From the power inputs, radiation readings, and other little things recorded by the system's A.I. they'd scratch their heads in absolute confusion and the half dozen A.I. slated to help would be forced to use their own segregated computer core to run their simulations and calculations so the normal system wouldn't be flooded by the combined outputs of six Smart A.I.

One of these people was a linguist named Dr. Daniel Jackson, a recently outlawed Egyptologist who'd suggested that the Pyramids of Giza were built as landing pads for alien starships. His theory was of rejected as ridiculous as the UNSC had been searching and colonizing worlds for many decades and had yet to encounter an intelligent race of aliens. So he'd basically had no real choice when ONI had come knocking at his about-to-be foreclosed house in New York offering a spot on a top secret project on Reach. And this was where he was, currently looking at a large stone tablet which had come with the Stargate to the large underground base. The other members of his department were all taking a quick coffee break as they chatted about the latest failed test.

"So what do you think Doc? What aren't we doing?" one of the linguists asked, looking over at the lone archaeologist.

"Huh, what?"

"I said, what do you think we aren't doing right now? We've been at this thing for several weeks now and nothing's happened. I think it's time that we look into some less conventional means."

"Well we're throwing massive amounts of power into a stone ring in an underground ONI base so I think conventional went out the window a while ago," Jackson responded with a shrug as the door to their lab opened.

"Hey I've got that new issue of Stars Weekly for you Doctor Imermein," a young secretary said walking in with a stack of papers and several magazines in her hands.

"Oh thank you Miss Nicks," said man responded, taking the magazine off of the top of the stack.

The lab that the group was using wasn't the most spacious, or the most equipped of the labs in the base, but it did the job. The group of five shared this thirty by fifty lab that had its walls covered in interactive screens, had a hologram projector in the center of the room, and was always under the watchful eye of a black armored ONI security man holding an MA5B Assault Rifle standing at the door. Their lab was also occupied by a medium sized room connected to the lab that held several computer banks that were the nerve center, brain, and effective body of an A.I. that they'd been entrusted with.

Jackson saw the cover of the magazine that the department head had just grabbed and then saw that one of the symbols was similar, no identical, to one of the symbols on the gate. He looked at the other symbols and then tapped away on the keyboard to his left he'd been using earlier.

"Doctor?" the voice of the resident A.I. Confucius piped out, the avatar of an ancient Chinese scholar appearing next to the table by Jackson, "I assume that you've…oh…that is something," the A.I. quipped, appearing again on the opposite side of Jackson to analyze what he was bringing up on the screen.

"I think we've got our breakthrough," Jackson grinned and saw the gears begin turning in the heads of his colleagues and they began smiling and several went to their own computers and workstations and began running simulations and comparisons.

"Well, well, well," a voice from the door into the room chuckled, "I see bringing you dirt collectors into the project wasn't a mistake after all."

"Admiral Hammond," Doctor Imermein jumped up, seeing the decorated commanding officer of the facility and their boss.

"Spare me the pleasantries Doctor, I've got ONI and Admiral Parangosky breathing down my neck demanding results. Tell me I can say yes the next time she calls me," the bald but strongly built man replied holding up his hand.

"Well yes we believe so. Well, it seems that we've been approaching the symbols on the Stargate wrong this entire time! They're not words needing a translation, they're constellations! Coordinates for dialing to other worlds!"

"I concur with Doctor Imermein's analysis," Confucius stated, "It seems that the Stargate needs seven inputted coordinates with the seventh being the point of origin for the Stargate dialing out."

"Full reports on my desk in one hour. I'll have the other departments notified," Hammond said definitively, walking out and leaving the scientists to continue in their work.

One of the women in the room went over to Doctor Jackson and sat next to him, "How did you know?"

"The magazine cover there. One of the constellations was identical to what one of the symbols is."

"Really?" she responded, looking at it and noticing the similarity immediately.

"So, what now? I mean, I guess we have something to work with so what's the next step? They haven't exactly been open with their agenda for the Stargate," Jackson said, his curiosity bubbling to the surface.

"Well, you didn't hear it from me, but one of the guards that yours truly happens to be seeing has said that some Black Ops guys from the ODST's are going to be arriving here in a few days."

"Really?" Jackson asked, "Well I'd love to be them then."

Location: Sol System, Planet Earth, Colorado Springs, ONI CENTAURI Base

Date: March 24, 2527

Time: 1900 Hours

The closely guarded mountain top fortress on the ancient command facility of the USAF's SACOM at Cheyenne Mountain had never ceased being a fortress. ONI had swooped in first chance they got and renovated then built up the already impressive 20th Century underground stronghold with a large box shaped building on the very tip top of the high peak. It was embellished with terraced gardens, several landing pads, hidden anti-aircraft guns, and a powerful self-destruct mechanism of several tons of conventional explosives that would bring the entire apparatus crumbling down the side of the mountain. The primary operator of the facility was ONI Section One, the least shadowy of the branches of the Office of Naval Intelligence. The above ground facility often hosted tours, public relations meetings, and hosted meetings with the civilian political leadership. But below ground, it was a completely different animal, Section Three operated a small research program within the confines of the deepest most fortified section of the base eight hundred feet below the deepest portion of the Pre-UNSC compound.

In this titanium, concrete, and granite encased fortress a group of ONI's masterminds was sitting around a large table with stacks of papers all around them. Each one was a comprehensive personnel report on possible candidates for their newest and most secret unit based on Reach at CASTLE Base. This unit was planned to be made up of the best of the best, so they'd sought out every record of every special operations branch, unit, and operator. This meant that there were quite a few of them, and they'd need to pick out the best of what had already been put forward to them.

Among the papers were the files for troops from units of the 101st Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Division's 501st Regiment, operators of the UNSC "Wet" Navy's SEALs, quite a few ONI recon operators, even some ORION's the first Spartans were on the list, and most classified among them were the files of every single one of the thirty-three Spartan II Super Soldiers. The Spartans, in the most ideal of circumstances, would have been the vanguard of this new operation's forces. But there was great mistrust and rivalry within ONI, and the process to get the Spartans involved would have tread upon quite a few toes. But worse still for ONI High Command, it would have let one of the most infamous members of ONI into their most closely guarded secret operation, Doctor Catherine Halsey. She wasn't exactly popular in the ranks of ONI, and they would have preferred to have kept her nose out of their business. But the promise of Humanity's elite soldiers was enough to allow them to be considered.

"So we've read the reports and the files. What are our conclusions on our first teams?" the head of the gathering, Admiral Parangosky, ONI's Commanding Officer, spoke out, getting the attention of everyone present.

"Well ma'am, of course the Spartans are the ideal choice. But we need to examine the risk of allowing Dr. Halsey access to our program," Admiral Hammond, the CO of the SGC itself, said clasping his hands together, "I myself have no objections to her participation. However the record is clear as to what lengths she is willing to go to accomplish her goal."

The issue of course, was not the Spartans, but the master mind behind them, Doctor Catherine Halsey. It was standard protocol for any mention of the Spartans in official ONI dispatches or reports to be known by Halsey to maintain a strict cloak of secrecy over the program. If they planned on sending a team of Spartans through a wormhole created by an ancient alien device Halsey would want in, but there were some issues with her and her record that prevented the assembled Admirals from instantly choosing a team of the elite Spartans.

"You're concerned as to whether her own ego will undermine the SGC Admiral ?" Parangosky asked.

"Yes ma'am. Her course of action taken to recruit the first class of Spartan II's and her planned recruitment of a larger class of one hundred fifty Spartan II's speaks volumes. The risks and acts she may or may not commit in the involvement of the Stargate Program have me concerned a great deal. But, I would like to go on record to say that the risks are more than outweighed by the benefits of having her skillset and those of the Spartans at my disposal."

"Yes, Catherine's intellect and the abilities of the Spartans are more than enough to warrant their consideration for this task. But we must remember what exactly the Spartans were created to do, deal with the Insurrectionists. That is something they are doing well, but we still need them now more than ever. The Innies have been hurt in the past two years, but not crippled. The Spartans are needed on that front in full force to push this advantage and crush any Insurrectionist cells or movements while we have momentum on our side," one of the other staff officers said. His name was Admiral Griggs, his job was as head of ONI's direct action operations, such as those carried out by the Spartans. He had been enjoying using them like a unit of grim reapers, cutting and slashing all who stood in his path with perfect efficiency. So he did not want to give that ability up.

"I must concur with Admiral Griggs," one of the other Admirals stated, her name was Admiral Osman, pretty much the second in command of ONI and everyone knew it. She didn't exactly have a soft spot for Halsey, and made that clear quite often, "Dr. Halsey isn't exactly a perfect soldier. She's a civilian, a civilian with an ego as large as her Spartans. Her participation in the program is highly suspect to breaches in security that will be detrimental to the ability of ONI to keep it under wraps. And besides, the Spartans are needed on the Insurrectionist front quite badly. But we have more than enough candidates that will be able to do the job we have in mind, for example," she said, picking out the file of an ODST Colonel from the ODST's 101st Division's crack Spec Ops unit, "Colonel Jonathan O'Neill of the ODST 101st Division. His record is exemplary in all ways. He's never failed a mission, he's cleared our security screenings with flying colors and he is just the start of our list of candidates."

"I know O'Neill, I had him under my command during my first tour on Harvest fighting the Red Hand Cell in 2520," Admiral Griggs said, nodding at the name, "He's a good man, a born leader."

"You make an excellent point Admiral," Hammond replied, "I have also received a list of some people who are already taking part in the program. Two of them are my top picks for going through the Stargate. Captain Samantha Carter, our foremost expert on the Stargate and its proposed capabilities. She practically single handedly wrote the program for the dialing sequence of the gate and has also seen quite a bit of her own frontline service. And I also know her father, Admiral Carter of the Third Fleet. Another possible candidate for the team is our finest linguist, Dr. Daniel Jackson, his knowledge of the glyphs and markings on the gate cut months if not years from our research. It was he who put together the missing piece to get the gate working."

"And those two have passed our security screenings as well," Admiral Osman replied, "And Captain Carter's own intellect is on par with Dr. Halsey and she's not nearly the egotistical cannon Catherine is. We can order her do something and she'll do it, no questions asked."

"So I take it that we agree that the Spartans are no longer needed for our first team?" Parangosky asked, seeing the prevailing consensus at the table, "So who do we pick?"

"Well, I would vote for Colonel O'Neill as commanding officer of the team," Griggs said immediately.

"I second that vote," Osman said, getting a nod from Parangosky. Hammond kept his peace as he pondered the subject, he knew no matter what he said the decision and approval of the team rested with Admiral Parangosky.

He knew that the Spartans were the best and deadly soldiers in the UNSC, and that ace in the hole for him was a luxury unlike any other. But at the same token he'd have to deal with their master mind, Dr. Halsey. He'd heard and read the reports of what she'd done to get the Spartan Program going and make it what it was today. Her expert knowledge and intellect was one of the most treasured in the UNSC. But he was wary of the baggage that came with it. He had Captain Carter already, a young officer of nearly equal intellect but with none of the ego and civilian status to side step.

"Well, I'll have to go with a team without the Spartans. Their record is exemplary, but they're needed elsewhere and Dr. Halsey's own record is questionable enough to keep her out of the loop. But I would like to say that we keep the Spartans in mind if an emergency evolves needing their unique skillsets and Dr. Halsey's own skillset."

"Very well Admiral," Parangosky nodded, "We have a team leader. I want Colonel O'Neill transferred to Reach's CASTLE Base within the week."

Location: Delta Arcturus System, Planet Outland, Outback City

Date: March 25, 2527

Time: 1920 Hours

The tiny little exploratory colony of Outland, the farthest planet from Earth, was hardly the fortress world. It was barely settled, with little to no large firm infrastructure established on it. The UNSC had a great deal of trouble keeping a firm presence in place to protect the population of one hundred and fifty thousand souls. This made it a perfect spot for Insurrectionist activity to fester and grow. In orbit there was nothing but a single _Charon_ Class Light Frigate, the UNSC _Until Death_, and a pair of small Corvettes, the UNSC _Wishful Thinking_, and UNSC _Raise the Flag_. But that was it, there were no UNSC Army units on the ground, barely a shadow of a militia, and a corrupt police force in the largest city on the planet, Outback City. But secretly, there was one group of UNSC troops on the ground. Their mission was one of seek and destroy an Insurrectionist cell operating out of the planet's space port.

The space port was where its numerous food stuffs were shipped back to the rest of the colonies. It was a farming world, with most of its populace farming wheats, grains, oats, and many types of fruits and vegetables in the rich soils of the planet's plains and river regions. There was a smaller mining operation in the mountains surrounding the city taking iron, zinc, copper, and even gold and silver right out of the ground. These metals were taken in their raw form to a fledgling industrial complex where the ore is extracted and refined and then shipped out to the more complex industrial planets of the mid and inner colonies. Outland colony was meant as the first of the Outskirts Colonies that went even further away from the established UNSC bases of power and to be a base for future colonization missions and as a massing point for UNSC forces to mass in case of unrest. It was privately funded by a conglomeration of farming unions, mining companies, and shipping firms looking to exploit the potential resources of the untapped worlds beyond the Outer Colonies. But this meant that it was the perfect place for the Insurrection to take root far from UNSC power.

That Insurrectionist presence was what this team of five Spartan II Commandoes was there to deal with. In overall command of this team was Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John-117. In his team were Fred-104, Kelly-087, Linda-058, and one of the largest Spartan II's Samuel-034. They were in their powerful and advanced MJOLNIR Mk. IV Armored Exoskeletons, with MA5B Assault Rifles, M6D Magnums, flash bang grenades, and fragmentation grenades with the exception being Linda who carried an SR99 Sniper Rifle as the team sniper. Linda was situated high on a large loading crane that gave her a perfect view of the space port's warehouses that held the weapons cache that the team of Spartans knew held something deadlier than a few rifles and improvised explosives.

"Blue Five, sitrep," the Master Chief said into his comm, calling for Linda to give him a low down of what she saw.

"Eyes on target area, count nine heat sigs on ground floor, and three on the roof. Negative visual on the package and radiation sweeps are negative," Linda responded, looking through the thermal sight of her sniper rifle, of which she'd swapped the muzzle break with a silencer for stealth.

"Copy that, moving in on target," Chief replied, and put up his hand and waved them forward, "Blue Two on me, Blue Three and Four, move parallel to us."

Three blue winks answered his orders as he got the confirmation from his team and crept forward with a silence that didn't seem possible for a half ton suit of armor and Spartan. The four of them had gotten to within twenty meters, directly across from the warehouse in the cover of a stack of crates and boxes and didn't have much further to go. So with cat-like stealth, and inhumane speed the four Spartans were right outside of the warehouse where they were now capable of hearing the conversations of the Innies inside with their augmented hearing. John knew that he had nine Innies to neutralize inside and three on the roof. So his mind instantly came up with a plan.

"Blue Five, neutralize hostiles on the roof. Blue Three and Four enter and sweep from right to left. Blue Two, we'll sweep from left to right. Execute on my mark," Chief said, looking at the motion tracker to see that the majority of the hostiles inside were bunched up, more than likely playing cards.

"Blue One, be advised, I'm picking up a large heat signature from one of the hostiles. Proceed with caution, I can't tell what it is," Linda called out as Master Chief opened his mouth to give the signal.

"Blue Team hold, Blue Five give me a radiation reading now."

Chief had a theory about this sudden heat signature. He and the rest of the Spartans had passed civilian modded Cyclops exoskeletons used for heavy lifting here and there in the warehouses as they'd closed on the target. Something like that would put a bit of snafu in this operation.

"Negative Chief, heat signature is moving, I'm still not certain what it is."

"Very well, Blue Two," Master Chief said to Samuel, the team's muscle, "If contact is a Cyclops then it's all yours."

A blue wink on the HUD gave Chief the acknowledgement he was looking for and he nodded at his team for them to get ready, "Breach and engage on my mark, mark!"

On the crane Linda squeezed the trigger of her rifle and felt the kick of the silenced weapon and used it to level her aim at the second, not bothering to look at the gore that was to follow her sure shot. Without hesitation she fired again, and saw that the third one was within feet of the second man and drew a bead on him as well and fired without hesitation. The three Innies were hit and killed in such close succession one would think there were three snipers targeting them. But no, it was only a Spartan.

The four Spartans outside the warehouse yanked the large metal sliding doors back and rolled four flashbangs into the large mostly empty ground floor. The clattering of the cylinder shaped charges got the attention of eight of the Innies, none of whom had weapons within reach. The explosions and blinding flashes did their jobs, and all of them screamed in agony as the powerful shock and awe weapons blinded and deafened them. This moment of weakness wasn't really necessary for the Spartans, but it worked out all the same. The single shots of the MA5B Assault Rifles rang out in quick succession as the Spartans leveled their weapons, double tapping opponent after opponent. This firing roared out in less than a second due to the Spartans' 300% faster reflexes due to their augmentations. By the time the Innies hit the ground the Spartans had reloaded and were now facing off with a single stunned Innie who had been inside of a large civilian Cyclops exoskeleton. The massive mech dropped the large metal crate it was holding as it stumbled awkwardly from its driver being disorientated but then turned to face the four Spartans.

"Blue Two engage, cover fire!" the Chief ordered, squeezing the trigger and sent torrents of rounds right at the protected canopy of the Cyclops.

Bullets pinged off of the bullet proof glass and metal plating as all seven foot eight inches of Samuel charged forward with his weapon on his back to free up his deadliest weapons, his hands. The Cyclops driver saw the charging Spartan and threw a punch of the powerful mech right at him but at the very last second Samuel dodged to side, and let the concrete floor take the bone crushing blow for him. He jumped forward at the Cyclops, his right fist locked and drawn back. His half ton armored body slammed into the Cyclops, and he grabbed onto the metal plate with enough force to bend and mutilate the metal. His fist came forward at the blacked out canopy and smashed through it like one would shatter a porcelain vase. His fist continued through the glass, and into the chest of the Innie, caving in his ribs, collapsing his lungs, and totally pulverizing his heart. The Cyclops toppled onto its back from the two consecutive blows with a loud crash that broke open several empty wooden crates. The Innie only saw the shattering glass before the fist made impact and he died just as suddenly. Samuel felt the Cyclops freeze and stop responding as its driver died and rendered it inert. He withdrew his hand and saw that it slightly dripped with dark red blood. He stood upon the dead mech and its driver and looked to the rest of the Spartans who had been aiming their weapons ready to assist.

"Clear!" Samuel yelled out, grasping his rifle once more to be ready for anything.

"Copy that," Linda spoke over the radio, "No new contacts. Standing by for orders Chief."

"Very well," John said, and turned to the rest of his team, "Spread out and locate the objective."

The other Spartans nodded and spread out into the warehouse, looking for the tell-tale radiological symbol that nuclear ordinance was always marked with. The item they were looking for was a HAVOK Nuclear Mine that had been taken from the UNSC _Homefront_, a fleet tender on its way to rendezvous with a UNSC Battle Group before it was jumped by a group of Insurrectionist ships. The entire crew was killed save for a single man who hid inside the vents he had been crawling through for maintenance and was found when the UNSC responded and recaptured the ship. They'd tracked the nuke here after a threat from a small Innie cell went public, saying their usual threats and demands and showed the nuke on camera to give themselves leverage. But all they'd done was seal their fate.

"Chief," Kelly called out from the back of the warehouse, "Got something."

The others continued searching while John walked over and kneeled down next to Kelly who was leaning over a medium sized square cut into the concrete floor. It had a small handhold on one side to allow for a crowbar to pry it up but it was just big enough for a Spartan to get a good grip and lift it up. The Chief could see a small meter in his HUD start to glow that signaled the presence of radioactive material. He reached down and pulled the concrete slab up like it was made of wood and saw the steel container marked with UNSC markings and radiological symbols. He and Kelly reached in and lifted the large crate and gently set it down and John carefully ripped off the lock and opened the case to see the disassembled components of the nuclear warhead in their lead and foam insulated case.

"Good work Spartans, package is secure," the Chief said, getting nods from his team as they relaxed their guard. He switched frequencies to alert the ONI Captain aboard the UNSC _Until Death_, the frigate in orbit that they'd deployed from, "Command, this is Blue Team Actual, authentication Juliet Sierra one one seven. Objective is secure, repeat objective is secure."

"Copy that Blue Actual, good work. Prepare for extraction, Pelicans inbound ETA five mikes," the radio said.

"Very well, command, Blue Actual out."

The Spartans had by now begun going through the pockets of the Innies, checking for anything of use such as phones, data pads, or anything that might lead them to more Innie hideouts or leaders. The Spartans had become used to this type of operation by now, and not one of them had even begun blinking an eye at the act of killing these people. They'd all done it so many times and in many ways, some more graphic and personal than others. But best of all to them, none of their brothers of sisters had ever not come back from a mission. Sure some had gotten banged up from time to time, but those that did simply shrugged it off and came back after a little rehab and R&R back on Reach. But for the Spartans all that meant was some sound sleep, good food, and friendly competition in everything from CQB to smuggled video games that were set up in the recreation center on base.

But the night was not yet over for the Spartans, not by a long shot. Something else was on its way that would test them like never before.

Location: Delta Arcturus System, Planet Outland, UNSC _Until Death_

Date: March 25, 2527

Time: 1950 Hours

The Pelicans had taken off for the planet below to retrieve the team of Spartans and the nuclear device that they'd easily retrieved, leaving the crew to finally relax after several hours of being on standby. The _Until Death_ was a _Charon_ Class Light Frigate, the work horse of the Fleet. She was 490 meters long, 156 meters wide, and 139 meters tall with two feet of Titanium-A Battle Plate. She wasn't built for hard core ship-to-ship combat like the mighty _Marathon_ or _Halcyon_ class Cruisers, or for hunting down pirates like the _Gorgon_ Class Destroyers and_ Paris_ and _Stalwart_ Class Frigates. She was more for policing duties and troop deployment. Of the Frigate classes she and her sisters carried the most fighters, dropships, and ground vehicles, making her and her own sisters the prime movers of troops to trouble spots. But compared to what the Insurrection fielded her own single MAC gun, twenty-six M58 Archer Missile Pods, four M870 Rampart 50mm Point Defense Guns, and three M4093 Hyperion Nuclear Delivery Systems were more than enough for one or two of them to hold their own.

The UNSC _Until Death_ was at the moment in orbit with two smaller _Mako_ class Corvettes in close attendance, keeping an eye on the space of this new colony. The little corvettes' heaviest armament were four turrets armed with 50mm Point Defense Guns with a half dozen smaller Anvil-II Missile Pods for smaller targets that the little ships were actually meant to tackle. The crews of all three UNSC ships were calm and content, the majority of the two companies of Marines stationed aboard the frigate were on the surface with their weapons, equipment, and supplies landed so that in the event of the _Until Death_ being called away they wouldn't be short on anything they might need and so that the frigate could move out immediately. But the _Until Death_ still had her detachment of thirty six ODST's aboard where they could deploy via HEV pods within minutes of being ordered.

The ship was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Andrea Valdes, a recent graduate of the Fleet Academy on Reach. The UNSC _Until Death_ was her first command, and she was happy to have her. Her crew as well was green, with only the senior Chiefs having the slightest experience in the Fleet. At the moment she was on the bridge, where she liked to be, watching her bridge crew doing their jobs and looking out at the view of the planet and space itself.

"Commander," the voice of the ship A.I. Celestis spoke up, her green avatar form appearing on the holographic projector to Valdes's right, "Captain Grier reports that his team has successfully completed their mission and are en route to Fire Base Alpha. He has returned the ship to your command."

"Thank you Celestis, how did the mission go? No casualties I hope?"

"I'm sorry Commander, that information is classified Tier One," Celestis responded without missing a beat.

_That's the problem with these Dumb A.I., no personality_, Valdes thought to herself, "What's the status on the _Wishful Thinking_'s FTL? Have they got it fixed yet?"

"Negative, they are still reporting that it is offline."

"Order Chief Kaiser to get some of his grease monkeys together to help them out," she ordered.

"Commander, sensors are reading a slip space rupture twenty degrees to port. Make distance fifteen thousand kilometers," one of the men at the sensors station to her left called out.

"There's not supposed to be anyone showing up for two days. Ensign, get me an ID, now."

"I'm trying ma'am, contact, two ships, signatures do not match anything in our records."

"Commander, those two ships came out of the same slip space window," Celestis called out.

"That's impossible," Valdes responded.

"That may be true, but there are still many things we do not know about slip space."

"Commander, I have a visual," the ensign called out.

"On screen."

The monitor flashed up, showing a rather odd looking pair of ships. Both were quite large, with a single tetrahedron surrounded by a dark gray latticework. Their hulls were dotted with tiny pinpricks of light as they closed in parallel to one another.

"Lieutenant, bring the ship to Tactical Alert, Alpha Two. Alert _Wishful Thinking_ and _Raise the Flag_ to do likewise. Alert the colony and our ground side forces. Celestis call Captain Grier to the bridge."

The ship went to full alert, crewmen and pilots rushed to their stations. The sound of the shrill alarms went off across the ship as hatches were sealed, gun safeties were tripped, and the targeting systems warmed up. The ship heeled over to face the unknown intruders head on with the two Corvettes flanking her. The two unknowns slowed down to within effective range of the _Until Death_'s primary weapon, her MAC gun and faced off with the three UNSC ships. They were larger than all of the UNSC vessels, but their cross sections were bigger, which made hitting them easier should it come to that.

"Commander, shall I order Chief Haiser to belay the gathering of a work crew?" Celestis asked as the ship settled into its alert status. _Maybe these Dumb A.I. do have a sense of humor_, Valdes thought to herself.

"Yes, belay that order. Warm up the MAC, and release safeties from our nukes," Valdes said as the ships hovered there menacingly.

"Ma'am I am receiving a signal from one of the unknowns."

"On screen Lieutenant," Valdes ordered and saw the screen flash to life.

What greeted the eyes of the UNSC crew was something that made them all do a double take. What they saw was an ornate golden mask with a border on the sides of its human face in blue and white. It looked exactly like something out of an Egyptian movie about mummies and pharaohs. Lieutenant Commander Valdes furrowed her brow in confusion at the sight and began thinking that the full alert was a bit of a jumpy response to what seemed to be some kind of a weird prank/role play. So she had a little trouble taking what the figure said next seriously.

"I am Ra," a deep foreboding voice said over their speakers, "I claim this world and its inhabitants as my own domain. Surrender yourself and your pathetic fleet and you will be spared to serve me. If you resist your deaths will be swift."

Valdes looked at her bridge crew, who were equally confused and in some cases entertained, "This is Lieutenant Commander Andrea Valdes of the United Nations Space Command Ship _Until Death_. Be advised any show of aggression towards UNSC warships and personnel will be met with equal force. If you have laid claim to this planet then I must direct you to Colonial Administration Authority."

At this point the door opened and in walked the black uniformed ONI officer who'd been in command of the Spartan team charged with retrieving a nuke from Innies on the planet below. He looked over at the rather strange sight of the Egyptian style masked figure on the screen and the oddly designed vessels in front of the ship, "Commander? What is going on here?"

"Captain Grier, apparently, this guy is claiming to be someone named Ra, and is demanding our surrender. He says that he has claimed Outland as part of his own domain and has threatened us. Friend of yours?" she said, looking at him with a slight grin.

"We've never met, and I've never heard of him. But I do know the name, I studied a bit of Egyptian history in high school, Ra is the name of the Egyptian Sun God."

"Well he is certainly acting and dressing the part," Valdes responded as the figure calling itself Ra spoke again.

"A god does not barter with lesser beings. Bow before me, and serve. Or be destroyed," Ra said, and the feed cut off.

"Well whoever or whatever he is, he's high on something. Launch all Longswords, Celestis give me a target solution on the ship to the right for the MAC. Prepare Archer pods A through D for launch on the second ship," Valdes ordered.

"Commander, what are you doing?" the ONI captain demanded.

"My job, this guy may be some kind of whackjob, but it's pretty clear to me that he intends to attack us and I'm not taking any chances."

"Targeting solution acquired, Archers are locked on target," the Lieutenant in charge of weapons called out.

"Contact, hostiles are launching secondary craft, make twelve bogeys."

"Celestis you have the fifty millimeters. I want _Wishful Thinking_ and _Raise the Flag_ ready to open up as soon as hostiles open fire."

"Aye aye Commander."

The twelve flying wing shaped craft were smaller than a Longsword, much smaller. But they were closing in fast. The four Longswords of the _Until Death_ formed a picket line between the fighters and the ships and faced off with the enemy. The _Until Death_ adjusted herself so that her MAC gun had the ship on the right square in her crosshairs. The magnetic coils for the gun were practically glowing with electricity as the 600 ton ferric tungsten slug waited to be unleashed.

And soon, the time arrived, "Hostile fighters have opened fire on our Longswords. Hostile ships are closing."

"Ma'am, fighters are reporting that hostile fighters are using some kind energy weapon against them."

"What?!" Captain Grier snapped.

"They're too far away sir, I can't get a definite reading," the same man replied.

"All ships are clear to engage. Launch Pods A through C. Check solution on the MAC and fire," Valdes ordered excitedly.

Archer missile pods deployed from their housings on the hull of the frigate and let loose their powerful warheads. Smoke trailed the fast missiles as they sped towards the ship on the far left. The lights of the thirty missiles racing towards the ship were then overshadowed by the sudden shaking of the MAC firing. The large ferric tungsten slug was but a beam of white light as it sped from the UNSC ship. The entire bridge crew watched it all the way in until it impacted the right ship. A golden glow instantly surrounded the ship, and the ship jolted backwards from the powerful blow. But it just kept coming.

"Celestis, what the hell did I just see?" Valdes snapped.

"Commander, it seems that these vessels are protected by some kind of energy field that the MAC round impacted. No damage appears to have been done, I would suggest focusing fire on a single target to counter this."

"Do it!" Valdes ordered as she watched the waves of Archers impact the shields of the second ship with similar frightening results, "Dammit, prepare Pods A through I for ripple fire. Fire every missile in those pods. Prepare Shivas for launch, set them to detonate by the lowest proximity they can."

The ship shuddered as more and more missiles lanced out at the ship that had already been hit by the MAC gun. Valdes looked longingly at the MAC's charge level as it made its way past ten percent. Her best weapon was the MAC, that was what every professor in every combat course she'd taken at the Academy had told her. But here she was, baring witness to a ship that had taken a MAC gun right on the nose and was now baring down on her. She watched as the next wave of Archers impacted, lighting up the golden shielding with orange and red explosions from the supposedly powerful missiles. The two Corvettes were letting rip with their own guns and smaller Anvil missiles at the same target, but it didn't look like it was doing them much good. Then she remembered that their fighters were shooting some kind of energy weapons at her Longswords, and she surmised if their fighters had them, then these big behemoths would have bigger ones.

"Helm, bring us about, course one-eight-zero, flank speed. Celestis launch Shivas to take position at eight hundred kilometers from target. Calculate a course to slingshot us around using the planet's gravity well for speed. That'll give the MAC time to charge. Execute."

"Aye aye ma'am," the navigation officer responded, tapping away at the controls.

The _Until Death_ heeled over, and accelerated with everything her four engines could muster. The two Corvettes fell in line behind her, letting loose with their point defense guns to keep the fighters at bay so that their Longswords could join them in the maneuver. The three ships accelerated quickly, using the gravity well of the planet to their advantage and put distance between them and the enemy ships who were still trying to close. This type of maneuver bought them time to charge the MAC, reload the Archer pods that had been emptied, and bring three more Shiva warheads into their now empty silos. If the two ships pursued, they'd buy even more time, if they stayed in place they'd be right in the crosshairs of the UNSC ships when they came back around at full speed, hopefully too fast to get a good shot off.

But then Commander Valdes realized something, her ships had no shields, and barely any armor plating. Add the fact that their weapons had thus far proven to be ineffective the odds of losing were very real. The UNSC had to know what was happening, no matter the cost. She couldn't take her own ship, that would doom these two Corvettes to certain death and possibly sentence every man woman and child on Outland to the same fate. That left the only other FTL capable ship, the Corvette UNSC _Raise the Flag._ She didn't like weakening her already outmatched force, but it had to be done. While she was thinking about it she remembered her ship still had a platoon of ODST's aboard. If the ship went down, they went down. She couldn't let them perish without being able to stand and fight, so she made up her mind.

"Captain Grier, the UNSC hasn't faced anyone like these guys right?" she said once they disappeared around the far side of the planet.

"That's right, at least as far as I know," the ONI man replied.

"Which means the events of this contact scenario need to get out to the rest of the Fleet. I'm not willing to leave this planet and those two Corvettes here to die, and the _Wishful Thinking_'s FTL is offline, that leaves the _Raise the Flag_ to get the word out."

"I see what you mean Commander, and I couldn't agree more," he replied affirmatively.

"Celestis, copy the sensor logs and dispatch them to _Raise the Flag_ and order her to spin up her FTL and to jump to the nearest colony to raise the alarm," she ordered.

"It's done," the A.I. stated after a half second.

"Captain, when we come again things are likely to end badly. I think you should get to the HEV bay. I'm dropping my ODST's on the planet just in case."

"Commander, if it's all the same to you I'll stay. I've never run from a fight before, and I'm not about to start now," the man responded, drawing surprised glances from the bridge crew. The common consensus about ONI personnel was that they always shied away from fights, and would never risk their necks if they could help it. But not this one.

"Fair enough."

"Ma'am, Lieutenant Gibson from Raise the Flag is contacting us," Celestis piped up.

"Let's hear it."

"Commander, I figured I wouldn't get a chance to say it later, so I'll say it now, what you're doing is the bravest thing I've seen and I'll put you and your crew in for a Citation. Good luck, Gibson out."

Then the small ship opened up a swirling slip space window, and dove into it, disappearing from the formation. The two ships continued speeding around the planet, and their crews braced themselves. In the ODST bay, thirty-six Helljumpers in full armor locked their weapons into place within their drop pods and sealed themselves in. Their pods were loaded with the coordinates for their drop zone and their CO said one last good luck to the skipper of the ship before he felt his pod drop away from the speeding frigate and start its rapid descent into the atmosphere. The four Longswords too peeled away and dropped into the atmosphere to land so they could live to fight another day.

Now free to focus on the task at hand the two UNSC warships rounded the planet with the two enemy ships right where they estimated they'd be. The two of them turned to face the oncoming UNSC ships, and for the first time opened fire. Several golden bolts streaked by the _Until Dawn_ within several hundred meters. The MAC gun was by now charged and loaded, the three nukes were loaded with three more positioned nearby the enemy formation. Every Archer missile pod was loaded and ready and the guns of both ships were trained on target.

"Celestis order our warheads to target the first ship, fire MAC to hit in tandem with nuclear detonation. All Pods and our remaining warheads to fire on the second ship."

Three orange lights appeared behind the first ship, and sped right at it, their internal programming instinctively causing them jink and maneuver to avoid point defense fire that never came. A count down timer appeared on the weapons console, telling him when to let loose. But the bolts of golden plasma continued streaking past the two ships, drawing closer and closer until the inevitable happened. A single bolt struck the _Until Death_ on her starboard engine nacelle, blasting away a chunk of the armor. But thankfully, this was where the ship's armor was strongest, but the hit wasn't harmless.

"Hit on starboard engine nacelle. Armor down to ten percent, hull breach detected on deck eight section two, sealing it now," one of the bridge crew called out.

"Firing MAC in three, two, one. Fire!"

The ship shook once more with the firing of their main weapon, by now they were close enough that the total time for the MAC to impact was less than a second. The three contrails of the Shiva warheads ended in three miniature suns that enveloped the first ship in blinding white light. The 600 ton slug smashed the shields of the enemy ship at the exact same time. But this time, the results were different. The shields flared for a second, fighting back the impact of three 140 megaton Shiva nuclear warheads on one side, and then collapsed with the sudden piercing blow of a six hundred ton projectile being slammed into it at a fraction of the speed of light. The slug continued in until it shattered the gray latticework of the hull and smashed clean through the pyramid section. Explosions ballooned throughout the ship, gutting it and fracturing it into large pieces. The incoming fire ceased from this ship as the vessel became debris.

The _Until Death_ now unleashed its other weapons as it swung around. Dozens of Archer missiles lanced out with three more nuclear warheads right behind them. The guns of the two ships opened fire with everything they had. But the luck of the UNSC ships soon ran out. The _Wishful Thinking_ took shuddered under the blows of three consecutive hits from the plasma bolts of the enemy ship. Her thin armor offered little resistance and the bolts cut deeply into the little vessel. Hull breaches scattered along her damaged sections as fuel lines and missiles detonated and split the little Corvette into pieces. The _Until Death_ too took hits. Eight plasma bolts cut into her armor, wrecking the ship's starboard side. Hull breaches began appearing by the dozens as the ship fought desperately, emptying the last of her Archer missile pods. The detonations of the three Shiva nuclear warheads coated the enemy ship in bright white light, and gave them pause and a momentary respite to the wounded frigate.

"Commander! We have hull breaches on all starboard sections. We have lost maneuvering thrusters and sensors are down. Archer missiles have been expended and the MAC has been disabled!"

Explosions rocked the ship as the _Until Death_ slowly died, seeing no alternative, Commander Valdes looked around at her darkened bridge, and made her last decision as commander of the UNSC_ Until Death_, "All hands abandon ship. Celestis, initiate Ship A.I. Protocol Article Five," she ordered, and looked back with sorrow in her eyes, "I'm sorry."

"I-i-it's alright comm-commander. It has-has been an honor," the scratchy damaged voice of the A.I. spoke calmly as ever.

Within the A.I.'s memory banks, Celestis's own subroutines kicked into action, deleting themselves block by block until all that was left were the physical hard drives themselves, which then detonated themselves with thermite incendiary charges that melted through the hard drives until all that was left was molten copper, plastic, and steel. The ship's crew scrambled to life boats, desperately trying to get off of their dying ship. Most never made it as the ship shuddered from more punishment at the hands of the enemy ship. One by one, and two by two, the lifeboats launched away from the ship and angled towards the planet. The last one was piloted by Lieutenant Commander Valdes herself along with members of the bridge crew. She spun the life boat around to watch as her beloved first command ruptured as her engines overloaded and exploded, tearing themselves away. The ship had live up to its name, she'd fought valiantly, and had gone down fighting. She looked now at the large ship responsible, and watched it turn towards the planet.

She knew that there were Marines and ODST's on that planet with weapons, equipment, and vehicles that hadn't gone down with the ship. But there were five other soldiers down there as well. Those soldiers were Spartans, which meant this fight wasn't over, not by a long shot.

**There we are, I think that's a good place to stop. I know that in the show a supposedly 1,000 megaton nuclear warhead didn't bring down the shields of Apophis's Ha'taks. But for this story I'm going to tone down the shield strength of the Ha'taks a bit because of how weak they ended up being later on in the show and for the fact that we've got quite a bit to go. Thanks for reading, hope you all enjoyed it. Please leave a Review and click those follow and favorite buttons for more. **

**Oh I also came up with an idea as I was writing this and I was thinking about how I could get Noble Team into the story at some point. And that train of thought got me to thinking about writing a story about Noble Team surviving the Fall of Reach and joining the Chief in his adventures on Halo. It's still only an idea at this point. But I think I can pull it off once I wrap up **_**Brutal Truth**_**. **

**Next Chapter Preview: That's right, SG-1 is in this one. Let's see what happens when Teal'c meets the warriors of the UNSC. And we learn what happens when you try to make Spartans kneel to a false god.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Location: Delta Arcturus System, Planet Outland, Outback City

Date: March 27, 2527

Time: 1300 Hours

The fires and smoke of the burning city of Outback were an ominous premonition to what was in store. But the only premonitions Spartans cared for were accurate military intelligence. The Colonial Militiamen, UNSC Marines, and even the ODST's had been quite afraid of the massive ship hovering over the city as the sounds of explosions, screams, and the occasional spat of gunfire echoed from the city now under occupation. But now the UNSC forces on the ground were fighting back with everything they had.

In the beginning of the fight overhead the UNSC base on the ground got word that they might end up losing orbital supremacy. So following doctrine to the letter the Marines and Spartans had quickly gathered as much of their weapons, equipment, and supplies as they could and headed into the hills away from the obvious target that was the Alpha Base. So with every vehicle they could get their hands on the Marines took off into the hills with the final man leaving just as a bolt of plasma struck the base's armory. The entire makeshift basecamp of Instacrete and Modular Buildings was pulverized in moments from above as golden bolts of plasma smashed into the base. The bombardment lasted half an hour, but little real damage to the actual unit was done.

But the UNSC Marines, ODST's, and Spartans were not about to throw in the towel. There was still a fight to be had on the ground, and they intended to thoroughly thrash their attackers with everything they had. But first thing's first, they needed intelligence on what they would be facing. So the Spartans and thirty-six ODST's had been tasked with infiltrating the occupied city of Outback and gathering all the information possible on their enemy. Sketchy radio signals from police and distress calls had told them that the hostile infantry seemed human, but seemed to use alien weapons. The handful of policemen and women in the city had been quick to try and evacuate the civilian population, but before they could even start the roads into and out of town were blocked. This left the fifty thousand people inside under the occupation of an enemy who had come to conquer.

The ODST's and Spartans had split into their individual squads to maximize their coverage of the city and find any weaknesses and strengths that they could. The ODST's had taken the underground route, snaking through drainage pipes and sewer mains to avoid detection. The Spartans had decided to take a more direct approach and test the abilities of their new foes on the surface. The city was choked with rubble from the short but intense bombardment from the ship hanging above them. There were many bodies of men, women, and even children laying there. The sight of dead civilians, especially children had unofficially turned the Spartans' recon mission into one of private vengeance. But they had yet to encounter someone to unleash their rage upon. The city was said to be occupied by over a thousand enemy troops, but they hadn't seen one yet.

"Where is everyone?" Sam whispered over the comms, saying the question they had all privately been asking.

"No way of knowing until we make contact with someone," Kelly replied, surveying the tall semi-built high rise office and apartment buildings for possible snipers or lookouts.

"If there's anyone left," Linda mumbled ominously.

"Hold!" Chief snapped, raising his feet into the air. As point man he had his motion tracker set to scan the farthest out and had gotten movement alerts ahead of them from the next street, "Big movement, ten degrees right, thirty meters out."

The Spartans moved into a crouch, anticipating hostile contact and rechecked their MA5B's with Linda fingering the safety of her SR99 to be sure it was off. They'd been waiting for this moment since entering the small city, and were eager to fight back. The Chief looked to Fred and Sam and put up two fingers and pointed to the right, the signal for them to move along the building. He turned to Linda, pointing a finger towards a tall food court/concourse mostly covered by umbrellas that spanned across the intersection where the Spartans knew someone or something was moving around. He turned last to Kelly, who he signaled to follow him forward along the left side of the road behind the cover of a row of dirty damaged cars and pickups. He moved forward, weapon trained towards where his motion tracker had picked up the movement that was still showing a large center of activity that was moving forward towards the intersection. According to the map the Chief was using the street that the bogeys were moving on intersected their street at a right angle. This put them right where they wanted to be.

Fred and Sam moved forward quickly, staying parallel to John and Kelly to be able to provide mutual support. Linda quickly found her way up a ramp and traversed her way to a stairway that hadn't been completed and gave her decent concealment. From where she was she instantly picked out the sources of their motion tracker contacts.

"Chief, I've got eyes on bogeys. Count twenty plus potential hostiles. Looks like our intelligence was right, these people look human. They've got gray armor, no headwear, and six foot staffs which I'm guessing are their weapons."

"Copy that, what's their alert status?" Chief asked as he and Kelly stopped short of the intersection behind the cover of the inert vehicles parked on the curb.

"Low to medium, they're moving down the sidewalks, smashing windows and storefronts. Assume they're looking for civilians," Linda called out again, her keen eye observing the strange group of hostiles in front of her.

"Copy that," the Chief responded, moving forward until he was right behind a large piece of rubble that had been blown off of the corner building and provided he and Kelly with a perfect line of fire.

Master Chief broke the situation down in milliseconds. Advantages: They had the element of surprise, superior cover, the high ground, and motion trackers to keep tabs on any movement. Disadvantages: Their weapons would have an unknown effect on their armor, their training and skill level was unknown, their weapons abilities were unknown, and their own physical abilities were unknown. He'd fought worse as a kid in training with little to no tools, weapons, or armor to assist him in battle. The Spartans would engage.

Fred and Sam carefully moved into cover behind a damaged truck to get out of the line of fire from where they had positioned themselves. The Spartans could now hear the voices of the hostile group moving towards them along with the sharp sound of glass being shattered as they drew nearer to the Spartan team lying in ambush. The trap was set, now all they had to do was wait for the enemy to walk smack into it. But even Spartans could be caught off guard by an unforeseen situation and that was exactly what happened.

"Blue Leader! Three civvies just broke from cover! They're headed our way!" Linda suddenly called out, "Hostiles in pursuit!"

Master Chief instantly poked his head around the corner to see and hear the effect of that sudden situation. The column of hostiles instantly went into an uproar as they gave chase, shouting in some odd language and abandoned all pretenses of coordination. They were chasing after a trio of civilians, all three of them probably younger than the age of fourteen. They were wearing normal kids clothes that were caked with dust and grime from hiding out in this war-torn city. But boy did they fly, the three of them turned the corner and ran straight towards the overturned truck where Fred and Sam were taking cover. The entire column of hostiles came running after them hot on their heels. Their armor jingling and clomping around as they held their staffs in both hands battle ready. The Chief could now see that they had a very weird black tattoo on their foreheads, and their faces and builds were very much human to the naked eye.

"Fred, Sam, get those civvies in cover, now. Blue Team prepare to engage on my mark," the Chief said, seeing the situation rapidly unfolding before him.

Four blue winks acknowledged his orders as the three kids reached the truck as Sam and Fred waited to snag them as quickly as possible. They passed at a sprint, but thanks to the Spartans' augmented reflexes the two Spartans snapped them up by their hoods and jackets, gingerly but quickly taking them off their feet and dropping them against the truck in cover. The three of them at first thought they'd been caught by enemy troops, and prepared to run again, but then caught a glimpse of the titanic armored Spartans and sat there with mouths agape. Sam moved back to be able to cover the sides as Fred moved to the other side but spoke over his armors speakers.

"Stay down, do not move under any circumstances," he calmly ordered the three still stunned children.

The group of hostiles now slowed down, seeing that their quarry had taken refuge behind the cover of the large truck in front of them. Several chuckled at the foolishness of the maneuver and then one yelled out in confident English

"Children! Surrender yourselves and you will be spared," he said, but received no response.

"Chief?" Linda asked, her finger on the trigger.

"Not yet," he responded.

The gray armored man had enough of waiting, and handed off his staff to one of his compatriots and pulled a smaller, almost snake-like weapon from his forearm. He triggered something and the device clicked audibly as it prepared to fire and walked forward, not suspecting what lay in wait. He walked to the side Fred was waiting on and brought his weapon up to be ready to fire as he made it to the corner. As soon as his hand with weapon in hand made it into Fred's line of sight he grabbed it, squeezing the hand and crushed every bone. The hostile screamed in pain as he dropped the device, but Fred didn't let go, he wasn't finished yet. With a sudden move Fred yanked him forward out of sight of the others who watched in stunned surprise at what had just happened. But then, Fred grabbed onto the man's back plate and collar propelled him past Sam and into a white steel wall headfirst. The man's body looked like it had been shot out of a cannon and impacted with similar force. His head hit the wall with a sickening crack, staining it with a blotch of red blood, and then slid down the eight feet to the ground.

"That'll show 'em," Sam chuckled, hearing the frightened gasps of the enemy who had seen it all.

"Blue Five, engage!" John ordered, seeing the situation and took advantage of it.

"Engaging!"

A single crack sounded out and sent up a cloud of red mist where the head of one of the enemy had been. This shot was followed by another one, with the same result. Then the third shot rang out, striking one of them in the chest and blowing apart the plated metal armor and coating the hostiles behind him in blood. Right as that happened, John and Kelly stood up and fired their MA5B's at point blank range. Sparks and pieces of metal jumped from the enemy troops as they were now caught in crossfire from the other two Spartans who leaned out from behind cover and opened up. Their sixty round magazines of high tech armor piercing rounds did the job, and the Spartans advanced. The enemy was stunned and shocked at the appearance of these green walking death machines that were larger than any human they'd ever seen. Fifty caliber rounds continued to shred them from above as the four Spartans assaulting them cleaved through their numbers within seconds. One or two tried to fire, but simply sent their deadly ordinance of plasma into the buildings or the street around them. Hardly any of them had their wits about them in time to pull up their weapons and fire effectively as their numbers were finally brought to single digits and then to zero. The engagement lasted less than a minute, leaving a pile of bodies, some without heads or entire pieces of their chests missing, that bled their thick red blood into pools that collected and ran off into runoff drains.

"Clear!" the Spartans sounded off.

"Search the bodies and police those weapons," John ordered, "Blue Five, do you have eyes on any contacts?"

"Negative, area's secure."

"Blue Two, secure the civvies."

"Roger," Kelly responded and turned to check on the three civilians who'd started the whole thing.

The Spartans reloaded after sounding the all clear and waded into the bodies to search for anything that might provide valuable intel. Fred picked up one of the staffs, examining it in detail until he found a button that must have operated the weapon. He aimed it away from his team mates and tapped the button once to see the end of the staff open up and an electric current course down the bulbous end. He then tapped it again, and a golden blob of fire went straight into the wall he'd been aiming at. It impacted with a small explosion that blackened the metal and charred it black. He walked over and examined it, making sure his helmet mounted camera got every second. Once that test was done he proceeded to snatch up the other staffs and snake-like pistol weapons and gathered them up.

"Stash the weapons in that truck and mark this position," John ordered as he tossed the weapons into the back of the vehicle as Linda marked the position for all to see.

Then, a strange noise got the attention of the Spartans, and all turned to face the source from within the piles of bodies. It was an almost screeching noise not unlike the noise a rat makes. The Spartans then saw several worm-like things squirm their way from the bellies of the bodies of the enemy soldiers that had fallen.

"What the fuck?!" Sam about yelled, seeing one snaking its way through a pool of blood towards them.

"What are they?" John asked as he knelt down to look at one for himself.

"No idea Chief," Fred responded, poking one with the barrel of his rifle and received a hiss from the creature in response.

"Well one thing's for sure. These guys aren't human, unless I missed something in biology with Deja," Sam grumbled.

"Grab a bottle or something to hold them and stash them with the weapons," he ordered, and got an acknowledgement from Linda who tossed down a pair of half full water bottles. He reached out grabbed one of the creatures firmly, feeling the muscles of the two foot long creature squirming in his grip as it screeched and tried biting at him to no avail. He stuffed it into the bottle, and saw it start to swim around inside like a fish.

The other Spartans did the same thing, collecting the creatures quickly and without fear and once they found and collected all the live ones they turned their attention back to the mission. John signaled Linda to join them on the ground and went to see Kelly on one knee talking to the three civilian children who were now huddling together as they looked up at the Spartans. Kelly had moved them into the cover of a small diner and had the kids inside the kitchen away from the windows. Fred stayed at the entrance to the kitchen while the other Spartans took in the situation.

They were definitely young. The oldest was thirteen and the two younger ones were eleven and seven years old. The oldest had dark brown hair that came down past his ears with brown eyes. He wore a black leather jacket with a patch on the shoulder that the Spartans recognized instantly as the patch for the 7th ODST Battalion with the ODST symbol sewn in colored leather on his back. He, like the other two kids had on a pair of blue jeans that were cut, stained, and dirty from their recent experience. The eleven year old had on a light blue Arcadia Hornets football hoodie with the number "54" in big block letters on the front and back. His hair was shorter and was the same color and his eyes were the same brown. The youngest had spikey brown hair and big blue eyes that stared at the Spartans the whole time. He wore a green zip-up forest digital camouflage windbreaker that all the kids seemed to wear. They all seemed to have very similar shaped faces and noses and if the Spartans were to guess they'd have guessed that they were brothers. But the Chief turned to Kelly and demanded an update.

"Kelly, status."

"Chief," Kelly said, "These three have been through a lot. They're physically healthy aside from exhaustion and dehydration. But mentally I'd recommend a full psychiatric evaluation and mental rehabilitation. Some of the stuff they say they've seen is pretty nasty."

"Have you asked about the location of the rest of the population?" John asked.

"Yes Chief, they said that the hostiles have been rounding up the civilian population and taking them to the spaceport and locking them into the warehouses under heavy guard. From what they've witnessed anyone wearing a uniform of any kind was stood up in front of them and publicly executed as a symbol of what happens when they resist."

"So what do we do with 'em?" Sam asked.

"We can't take 'em with us to our objective and the nearest Helljumpers are well out of range to escort them. They'll only slow us down Chief," Linda stated plainly.

"We can't leave them and we can't stay here," Fred noted as well.

"Where are our recon teams?" the Chief asked, looking at the tactical map that gave him the real time location of every UNSC soldier within the city.

There were three groups of dots from each of the three ODST squads that were deep within the city. They'd played it smart and stayed below ground. First Squad was within a kilometer of their position, Second Squad was farther out near the residential sector, and farthest out, near the space port was Third Squad. The Chief looked at the three children who were now his only source of intelligence of what had been going on in the city. He needed to get them out of the battle area and pull back to recon the space port. Priorities were first and foremost safeguard his unit's tactical effectiveness, ensuring the safety of civilians second, and third gathering tactical and strategic intelligence and then acting on it with a planned out operation. He broke down the situation once more, he had three civilians under his protection. They've apparently witnessed quite a bit of the initial attack on the city seeing the fate of the other civilians and the execution of people in uniform, more than likely cops and militia. That type of knowledge would prove useful, but he had to be able to get them safely out of the city first off. But they'd also been able to keep themselves free while being hunted and pursued and not getting caught. The Chief looked at them out of the corner of his eye when he remembered that fact, it reminded him of the training he and his fellow Spartans had gone through at their age. That wasn't lost on Sam either, who noted the minute glance from John.

"They kinda remind you of us don't they?" he said.

"Our situation was different."

"Was it?" Sam asked.

"I suppose not," John said.

He knew that moving farther into the city was tactically unwise, with civilians, children for that matter, in tow he and the Spartans would not be as combat effective as they would without them. But priorities were priorities, and he had no alternative.

"We're pulling out," Chief ordered, "Contact the Helljumpers to do the same. Rendezvous at Waypoint Bravo. Kelly and Linda, you're on point, Fred cover our six. Sam, we're on flank security with the civvies in the middle. Exfil out the back door."

The Spartans hesitated for a moment before acknowledging the order and moving to stack up by the back door. The kids sitting on the tile floor of the kitchen saw the Spartans moving to leave and stood up when the largest Spartan walk over to them with rifle in hand. He towered over them by nearly three feet in full MJOLNIR Mk IV Armor and could see the nervousness in their faces at being approached by someone as big and powerful as him.

"We're getting you out of the city. Stay between the Master Chief and me, do what we say when we say to do it. Keep your mouths shut, eyes open, and we'll be alright."

"Yes sir," they all said.

"Good, let's get you outta here."

Fred was keying into the comms, connecting with the ODST's to inform them of the change of plans, "Blue Four to Switchback, come in."

"This is Switchback we copy," came the response from the ODST Lieutenant.

"We're pulling out, rendezvous as Waypoint Bravo for evac."

"You can't be serious!" the voice of the ODST officer hissed.

"Affirmative, Blue Team has secured intel on possible location of the city's populace," Fred repeated, "Pull back and rendezvous with us."

"Have it your way Spartan. Switchback out."

Fred just shook his head as he terminated the transmission, "Sometimes I wonder how those ODST's haven't all been thrown in the brig."

"You and me both," Sam grumbled.

"Let's move Blue Team," the Chief ordered, getting a nod from Kelly and Linda who shoved open the door and spread out, aiming down both sides of the back alley where the small strip mall had its trash bins and outdoor storage.

"Clear," Kelly called, waving the other Spartans to follow them out.

Sam walked out, joining Linda where the rear was covered as the three kids walked out behind him and took cover behind a garbage bin. Then John and Fred walked out to join them and closed the diner's door behind them.

"Move out."

Linda and Kelly moved towards the bend in the alley moving towards a bend in the road that would take them to a road that led out of town. The alley was barely large enough to hold a large truck and two cars wouldn't be able to pass one another. Much of it was covered by buildings and/or wreckage of said buildings. Thankfully there weren't any bodies to worry about averting the eyes of the three kids. But the Spartans probably thought that the kids had seen their fair share already.

The trip out of the city was uneventful, and thankfully the enemy hadn't decided to open fire on them from above. Their motion trackers had kept them clear of patrols and lookouts, much to the irritation of their baser military instincts to engage and destroy. However once they made their way to the outskirts where there was a buffer zone of construction between them and the rocky hills and woods. They all accepted that they'd have little cover like they did in the confines of the city streets. So the Chief signaled the larger and stronger Spartans to grab a kid and carry them on their back so they could make better time to the rendezvous point.

Sam picked up the oldest boy and wrapped his arms on his shoulders and with Fred taking the youngest and had to carry him in one arm because his small arms weren't big enough or strong enough to hold on effectively. The Chief picked up the middle boy and carefully moved out and got into a slow jog that would have matched these boys' sprints. So the Spartans rapidly made up time, and soon they had arrived at the rendezvous point fifteen miles out from the city. The ODST's had all linked up themselves were moving along the ridgeline towards them but were still a solid eight miles away and two hours walk from the Spartans. So the Spartans tucked their VIP's into a small cave that would provide excellent concealment from the air and from the ground. Kelly checked them for any injuries once again. Finding nothing the Spartans now found that they had nothing to do, and Spartans got restless easily when bored. Linda was perched outside on the top of the hill keeping an eagle eye out for anything that came close to them from the air or from the ground. But at least the three boys had found the bravery to ask questions of the Spartans and that provided an outlet for their boredom.

"What are you? I've never seen a soldier like you before," their oldest charge asked, sitting down next to Fred who was sharpening one of his four knives, "And I used to live on Reach. I've seen all kinds of soldiers."

"Classified," the Spartan responded without missing a beat.

"Are you robots?" the youngest asked from his spot.

Every Spartan turned in the cave turned their heads to look at him and he reverted to looking at the dirt and stone floor rather than return the gaze of the four Spartans.

"We're human, just as human as you three," Sam replied with a chuckle.

"Not quite," Kelly whispered into the comm so that the boys wouldn't hear her.

"Can I ask your name if I tell you mine?" the last and quietest of the boys asked.

"Why not? Let's humor him," Sam shrugged, "Sure thing."

"I'm Carter," the youngest said eagerly.

"Nice to meet you Carter," Sam chuckled, "I'm Sam."

The little boy held out his hand in a gesture that made the Spartan cock his eyebrow up in curiosity. That was something that not very many kids of seven knew or even used. So when this little boy held out his hand sincerely and held it there the Spartans were rather curious about it all. So Sam made a sincere effort to shake his hand and not crush it with his immense strength. But he had his muscles under tighter control than ONI had over the rest of his life, so he was interested to see that the boy tried to squeeze his hand as a normal handshake normally worked, but due to the fact he couldn't even get his hand past his palm made that tough.

"I want to be just like you guys," Carter said, a buck toothed smile appearing on his face as he looked at the emotionless visor of the Spartan.

"Maybe you will," Sam responded.

"Mayday! Mayday!" their radios all of a sudden crackled loudly, "This is Switchback, we've been engaged by hostile forces. Requesting assistance."

"Blue Team, lock and load, we need to get to them now," Chief ordered, getting up from where he'd been sitting against the cave wall.

"Someone needs to stay and watch over them," Fred said, walking out of the cave entrance.

"Linda."

"Yes Chief," the sniper responded.

"Thanks for volunteering, keep a low profile, do not engage anything or anyone until we return with Switchback unless you've been compromised."

"Copy that Chief," said sniper growled at being volunteered to have to babysit.

"Take care of them for us," Kelly chuckled as she walked out and jogged off to follow the rest of the team.

All Linda could do was stand at the entrance holding her sniper rifle tightly, remembering not to squeeze too tightly, else she'd be left without a rifle and the replacement would be deducted from her pay. That's the way it had happened the last time, and the time before that. She didn't want another two thousand cubits deducted from her salary, not over this. But as she watched her team mates disappear over the ridge to help the engaged ODST's she couldn't help but shut off her comm and growl to herself.

"You guys suck."

Location: Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Reach, Menachite Mountain ONI CASTLE Base/Stargate Command

Date: March 27, 2527

Time: 1400 Hours

There were not very many things that hadn't been considered by ONI, especially in a place like the SGC. Dozens of contingencies, plans, back-up plans, and back-up plans for the back-up plans had been made up and thought out in detail by the officers, their staffs, and the A.I. that the SGC used. Every member of the battalion sized ONI security force had been briefed on the plans that had been laid out and were ready for just about anything.

The gate room itself was an interesting setup. It was quite large, being twelve meters by forty meters in its dimensions. A full platoon of guards with full combat gear and weapons ranging from MA5B Assault Rifles, M247H Heavy Machine Guns, 102mm SC-HE Rocket Turrets, and a quartet of M8 Automated Defense Systems was already stationed inside the large room. The gate room was built within the confines of a solid four feet of Titanium-A Battle Plate, reinforced concrete, and EMP shielding. The gun positions were scattered in front of and to the sides of the Stargate with the four M247H fifty caliber machine guns set up with two on the floor and two on a balcony that hugged the walls and in front of the control room. Two rocket turrets were positioned on the balcony parallel to each other behind armor plate. Two of the M8 Auto-Turrets were positioned directly to the side of the gate with two more positioned in the ceiling above the Stargate. Numerous deployable titanium bunkers were built into the floor and walls to give excellent cover to the guards on the concrete floor leading to the steel ramp to the Stargate. A powerful elevator was built into the floor where it could bring up Warthogs AFV's, Mongoose ATV's, or even something as large as a Scorpion could be brought up. But there were no Scorpions that were down there, as the Stargate was not large enough to facilitate such a large vehicle. To gain entry to this room there were two entrances opposite one another that required a palm scan and security code to be entered. Then above the indoor fortress was the control room.

This room was the nerve center of the whole operation. Dozens of computers, terminals, and screens relayed their important information directly to the standard crew of thirty men and women charged with its smooth operation. The primary dialing interface was an isolated terminal that was only accessible when two palm scanners set apart from one another had the hands of two cleared officers pressed down at the same time. It was a security measure of course, and one that only fifteen people in the entire UNSC were able to properly clear. The control room window overlooked the Stargate from the rear of the room with a balcony directly in front of its concave blast proof window. Two layers of Titanium blast shields were capable of being deployed in seconds in the event of an emergency, and all of it was under the supervision of a single Smart A.I. named Galileo.

All of this was in place with one addition, a team of ten men and women outfitted in full armor varying from the more prevalent ODST Battle Armor, to a single ONI Reconnaissance BDU, and a Marine BDU with a sealed helmet. The armor suits were slightly modified to be sealed from chemical and biological agents that may or may not be encountered by the offworld team. The unit was handpicked, it was meant to be the best of the best, and it would have to be if it were going to be stepping through the Stargate.

Their objective was a simple one: Go through the Stargate and acquire technology to defend the Earth and all her Colonies from any aggressor, and if needed, eliminate said aggressor. To command this team was Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill of the most elite ODST outfit in the UNSC had been chosen, his reputation as an elite and trusted operator in conflicts all across UNSC territory went back several decades and placed him where he now stood. Chosen for her unrivaled technical intellect was Captain Samantha Carter of ONI Section 3, who'd been the foremost expert on the Stargate's capabilities and the operating system with which the Stargate would run off of, her job as the team's technical officer would be to deal with any technology that was encountered while offworld. The odd one out in this band of the UNSC's elite was a civilian, Doctor Daniel Jackson, who was thought of as the finest interpreter and had been the one civilian to actually volunteer to go through the gate and figure out how to dial the team home when the time came.

At the moment the ten men and women of the team were checking and rechecking their equipment, weapons, and themselves. Of course they had the option to opt out right up until they were ordered through the gate where a replacement was slated to take their place in the team. None of them however wanted to opt out. Even as the timer on their HUD's counted down the minutes to when the Stargate would dial none of them flinched away from the mission. Not even Dr. Jackson who sat toying with the single M6D Magnum in the holster at his hip.

The rest of the team was armed quite heavily compared to him. The most common weapon was the M7S Silenced SMG's that seven of the ODST's carried. A single ODST held an M739 SAW, while two others carried Jackhammer Rocket Launchers on their backs. One of the other ODST's held an SR99 Sniper Rifle slung over his shoulder for long range fighting to compliment his Silenced SMG. Captain Carter carried an M7S and M6D to keep a similar ammunition type in the squad so that ammo could be split if worse came to worse.

Soon though, the countdown timer in their HUD's reached zero, and the dialing sequence commenced. Sirens went off across the base, hatches and doors locked shut, security personnel rushed to their positions, and hundreds of cameras and sensors started rolling. The Stargate started turning, and one by one, the glowing crystals began lighting up as the groaning of stone on stone filled the gate room. The team felt their hearts start to race in their chests, and their eyes studied every single movement of the Stargate as it spun and the chevrons encoded and lit up one by one. Finally at the seventh chevron's lock a sudden tidal wave of what appeared to be water jetted from the ring, engulfing a camera that had been placed directly in front of the device. The signal was lost instantly, and the camera disappeared at the sudden retreat of the splash of watery material. Everyone watching couldn't help but do a double take at the strange watery image rippling in the ring. The triggers of the numerous guards were not untouched as they waited for anything to come barreling through at them. But nothing happened.

It had begun, the UNSC had dialed the Stargate, and would soon realize a great many wondrous things were out there. But out there waiting were dangers, dangers that would soon bring the full might of the UNSC into a conflict that no one could have imagined. A conflict foreseen thousands of years ago by a race that even at this moment were watching with curiosity as the UNSC took its first bold steps into a larger universe. For unseen by the full might of the Epsilon Eridani Fleet and its numerous Orbital Defense Platforms a small vessel from an ancient and wise race observed the start of a new era for the galaxy.

**Yeah I know I forgot about Teal'c this chapter, but if I had put him in this update I would have a chapter over ten thousand words long. And that is way too long for one chapter, I'm not Tom Clancy (Rest in Peace) so I'll try to keep the chapters within a range of 5K-8K Words in the future. Thanks for reading, hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll see you again when I update my next story in the cycle.**

**Now this is something those of you who've read my story A Brutal Truth know I love to do. A poll! You vote for whatever it is I ask for input on, and here it is. **

**I plan to give SG-1 an A.I. of their own for use in the field. What should I name it? **

**Indiana Jones**

**Audie Murphy**

**Columbus**

**Let me know your vote in review form, voting ends when I update again in a few weeks.**

**Next Chapter Preview: First contact for the SGC (Teal'c is in it this time I promise), and the Spartans turn loose.**


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